Hours after re-election, judge in court on battery charge

Hours after being re-elected to the bench in Cook County, Judge Cynthia Brim appeared in court this morning on a misdemeanor charge of battery.

"I'm just happy the people voted me back in," Brim said after her status hearing, at which a Cook County judge transferred her case to yet another judge.

Brim was charged in March after she allegedly shoved a sheriff’s deputy and tossed a set of keys toward another at a security checkpoint in the Daley Center. Her arrest came one day after she apparently went on an extended tirade while on the bench in the Markham courthouse.

Brim’s attorney James Montgomery said this morning that his client was "legally insane" at the time of the alleged battery.

He said Brim has bipolar disorder but her physician has cleared her to return to the bench, saying the condition can be controlled with medication, Montgomery said.

"I don't know why they are wasting good, precious judicial resources and Judge Brim's money on this case," he said.

He said his client will not resign and it will be up to the judicial inquiry board, which he said is investigating, to determine whether Brim is fit to serve as judge.